Category Archives: Pathogen

Research-Decontamination of Leafy Green Vegetables Using Edible Plant Extracts

Journal of Food Science

Abstract

Fresh cilantro, parsley, and spinach are products that are regularly consumed fresh, but are difficult to decontaminate, as a result, they are common vehicles of transmission of enteropathogenic bacteria. In this study, the efficacy of plant extracts as alternatives for disinfection of cilantro, parsley, and spinach that were artificially contaminated with Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Shigella sonnei was determined. Edible plant extracts obtained using ethanol as the extraction solvent were tested to determine the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and those that exhibited the lowest MBC were selected for further studies. Leaves of fresh greens were washed with sterile water and dried. For seeding, leaves were submerged in suspensions of 2 different concentrations of bacteria (1.5 × 108 and 1 × 105), dried, and then stored at 4 °C until use. To determine the effects of the extracts, inoculated leafy greens were submerged in a container and subjected to treatments with chlorine, Citrol®, or selected plant extracts. Each treatment type was stored at 4 °C for 0, 1, 5, and 7 d, and the bacterial counts were determined. From the 41 plant extracts tested, the extracts from oregano leaves and from the peel and pulp of limes were found to be as effective as chlorine or Citrol® in reducing by > 2 logs, the population of pathogenic bacteria on leafy greens and therefore, may be a natural and edible alternative to chemicals to reduce the risk of Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7 and S. sonnei contamination on leafy vegetables.

Practical Application:  The antimicrobial efficacy of the extracts of Mexican lime and oregano was clearly demonstrated on cilantro, parsley, and spinach. The extracts of Mexican lime and oregano provide alternatives to chlorine to significantly reduce bacterial pathogens that have been associated with outbreaks from contaminated leafy green vegetables. A simple, low cost, and labor-saving extraction system for production of the extracts was used.

Research – Bacteriocidal Properties of Health Promoting Powders

Journal of Food Science

Abstract

We evaluated the relative bactericidal activities (BA50) of 10 presumed health-promoting food-based powders (nutraceuticals) and, for comparison, selected known components against the following foodborne pathogens: Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus. The relative activities were evaluated using quantitative bactericidal activity [(BA50 value, defined as the percentage of the sample in the assay mixture that resulted in a 50% decrease in colony forming units]. The BA50 values were determined by fitting the data to a sigmoidal curve by regression analysis using concentration–antimicrobial response data. Antimicrobial activity is indicated by a low BA50 value; meaning less material is needed to kill 50% of the bacteria. Olive pomace, olive juice powder, and oregano leaves were active against all 4 pathogens, suggesting that they behave as broad-spectrum antimicrobials. All powders exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against S. aureus. The following powders showed exceptionally high activity against S. aureus (as indicated by the low BA50 values shown in parentheses): apple skin extract (0.002%); olive pomace (0.008%); and grape seed extract (0.016%). Listeria bacteria were also highly susceptible to apple skin extract (0.007%). The most active substances provide candidates for the evaluation of antimicrobial effectiveness in human food and animal feed.

Practical Application: Plant-derived health-promoting food supplements, high in bioactive compounds, are candidates for use as antimicrobials in food.

Research- Rsing Sea Temperatures Increased Vibrio?

Huffington PostVibrio

In December, Darrell Dishon became one of the approximately 15 people each year who succumb to vibriosis after eating raw oysters. Vibriosis is an incredibly rare disease — but Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that it’s getting more common.

“While all the other pathogens have shown a nice decline, the vibrios are about twice what it was since 1998. In a little over a decade, incidence has doubled. They’re still relatively small numbers — but it’s a very striking increase,” leading vibrio researcher Glenn Morris of the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute told The Huffington Post.

Vibrio thrive in warm water. (That’s why the majority of cases happen in the summer, and why vibriosis is more closely associated with oysters from the Gulf of Mexico than from, say, the Pacific Northwest.) One widely publicized study published in July 2012 indicated that a 1-degree increase in the temperature of a body of water triples its vibrio population. For that reason, many scientists believe that climate change has contributed to the recent rise in vibriosis, and that it could make vibrio bacteria much more prevalent in coming years.

“Vibrios are in many ways the poster children for global warming, because they are so temperature sensitive and the temperature breakpoint for them is right around the point that we’re seeing temperature increases,” Morris explained.

The disease has already cropped up in places it had never been seen before: Israel, the Baltic Sea, even Alaska. Yet vibrio vulnificus, the form of vibrio bacteria that’s considered the most dangerous and the one that killed Dishon, remains most closely associated with oysters from the Gulf of Mexico. With only about 30 total cases in the United States a year, it’s exceptionally rare. Your chances of finding a valuable pearl in one of the 2.5 billion oysters Americans eat a year are about 100 times greater than your chances of contracting vibrio vulnificus.

Yet when it strikes, it strikes hard. It kills about half the people who get it, a rate comparable, among foodborne illnesses, only to the dreaded listeria monocytogenes. And many of these deaths are unusually painful.

USA -Recall Veal Trimmings : E.coli O157:H7

E.coli Blog

San Jose Valley Veal, a Santa Clara, Calif. establishment, is recalling approximately 1,260 pounds of veal trimmings that may be contaminated with E. Coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The problem was discovered when a customer tested a shipment of veal and reported non-negative results. The customer held the shipment pending laboratory results, but other product from the producer’s same lot had shipped into commerce.

Research – The Microbiological Efficacy of Fresh Produce

Science Direct

Abstract

Fresh fruits and vegetables are an essential part of the world populations’ diet, contributing essential vitamins and minerals, and they are often eaten raw or minimally processed. Fruits and vegetables grown using conventional agricultural methods are at risk from microbiological contamination and foodborne illness relating to the consumption of produce is widely reported throughout the world, as illustrated by recent figures from the USA (at least 713 produce related outbreaks between 1990 and 2005) and UK (88 outbreaks between 1996 and 2006). Better understanding of produce decontamination is essential to support industry in assuring the safety of fruit and vegetable products, thus contributing to consumer health protection.

The purpose of this study was to establish the current state of knowledge on industrial produce decontamination techniques and to identify and prioritise research gaps regarding practical and effective mechanisms to reduce microbial loading of produce with particular reference to industrially cut, washed and prepared fresh produce. Using suitable keywords, a literature review was executed using academic databases and industry sources to identify current literature on different decontamination technologies. Efficacy of approaches was compared to that of chlorine washing, the most common decontamination method used by the fresh produce industry.

Findings indicate that the identified technologies had varying efficacy of microbiological reduction when compared to chlorine, and the reductions achievable across a range of methods are limited, giving rise to food safety concerns. In addition, the results demonstrate that there has been limited consideration given to several key factors, namely industrial application of the technology approaches, organoleptic acceptability of the product, whether the microbiological reduction could be sustained throughout the life of the product and consumer acceptability of the technology. This preliminary study has highlighted concerns about the efficacy of existing produce decontamination techniques and identified research gaps regarding efficacy and industrial application of new decontamination technologies.


Highlights

► The paper investigates current literature on fresh produce decontamination methods. ► Microbiological reduction is evaluated for various decontamination technologies. ► Different technologies have varying efficacy on microbiological reduction. ► Highlights a need for practical alternatives to chlorine washing to be found. ► Suggests further work on industrial use, organoleptic and consumer acceptability.

//

Keywords

  • Fresh produce microbiological decontamination;
  • Fresh produce safety;
  • Fresh produce washing;
  • Chlorine decontamination efficacy;
  • Fresh produce and foodborne illness;
  • Fresh produce industrial processing


There are no figures or tables for this document.

Corresponding author contact information
Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 (0) 1772 893657; fax: +44 (0) 1772 892927.
1
Tel.: +44 7801 608 117; fax: +33 233 46 58 57.

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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    Research – FDA Risk Assessment of Listeria monocytogenes in Cheese

    FDA FDA

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a draft quantitative assessment of the risk of listeriosis from soft-ripened cheese consumption in the United States and Canada. The risk assessment is a joint effort between FDA and Health Canada. View the Federal Register Notice for the assessment.

    The new FDA/Health Canada draft risk assessment found that the risk of listeriosis from soft-ripened cheeses made with raw milk is estimated to be 50 to 160 times higher than that from soft-ripened cheese made with pasteurized milk. This finding is consistent with the fact that consuming raw milk and raw milk products generally poses a higher risk from pathogens than do pasteurized milk and its products.

    While raw milk and raw milk products put all consumers at risk, the bacteria they may contain can be especially dangerous to people with weakened immune systems, older adults, pregnant women and children. View guidelines for avoiding illness by choosing milk and milk products carefully.

    FDA invites comments that can help FDA and Health Canada improve:

    • the approach used;
    • the assumptions made;
    • the modeling techniques;
    • the data used; and
    • the clarity and transparency of the draft quantitative risk assessment documentation.

    To submit comments electronically, go to docket FDA-2012-N-1182 on regulations.gov. The comment period opens February 11, 2013 for 75 days.

    Research – Flash Drying Poultry Cages – Reduces Campylobacter Levels

    Food Poisoning Bulletin Campylobacter

    Campylobacter is a bacteria that is commonly found in the intestines of poultry and shed  in their feces. During slaughter, these bacteria sometimes make their way onto cuts of meat, posing a health threat to consumers.

    Sometimes these bacteria are spread from infected birds to healthy ones during transport. For example, a healthy bird may be placed in a poultry cage whose previous occupant was infected, or the healthy bird’s poultry cage may be placed beneath an infected bird’s cage on a truck. Despite the risk to consumers, there hasn’t been much progress in reducing the presence of the pathogen in poultry, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    A few years ago, researchers discovered that drying the cages for 24-48 hours after washing them, cut down and even eliminated Campylobacter levels in poultry cages. But these drying times were found to be overly long and impractical by the industry. So  microbiologists Mark Berrang and Richard Meinersmann at the US Department of Agriculture’s  Agricultural Research Service and their colleague Charles Hofacre at the University of Georgia in Athens researched a shorter drying time with a blast of hot air.

    They found that flowing hot air for 15 minutes on cages that had been spray washed with water “lowered the numbers of Campylobacter to an undetectable level,” according to a report of their study published in the January 2013 edition of Agricultural Research, a USDA publication. No word  yet on how the poultry industry views the breakthrough.

    Research – HHP Inactivation of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

    Science Direct Vibrio

    Abstract

    The effects of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatments on Vibrio parahaemolyticus cells were investigated using viability counting, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) in order to determine optimal inactivation conditions and further understand the mechanisms of microorganism inactivation under HHP. The results showed that 300-MPa treatment for 10 min could extensively inactivate V. parahaemolyticus, with the number of viable bacteria decreasing from 109 CFU/mL to no viable bacteria. Damage to the cell wall, cell membrane, and cytoplasmic components by HHP treatments can be observed on scanning as well as transmission electron microscopy images. SDS-PAGE results showed that the protein bands differed between HHP untreated and treated V. parahaemolyticus, whereas HHP decreased protein content and caused partial protein degradation. Therefore, our results indicate that HHP can be applied to inactivate V. parahaemolyticus by inducing morphological changes in internal and external structures in the cell, as well as by causing cell membrane damage, cell wall rupture, and membrane protein degradation.

    Israel – Foodborne Illness – Hepatitis A – Market Vegetables

    Link

    Dozens of hepatitis A cases reported in the Tel Aviv area in Israel since last year may be linked to vegetables health officials say, according to a Haaretz report Friday.

    Israeli health officials say since the beginning of 2012, there have been 69 cases of the viral liver disease reported from the area, with the majority reported in the latter half of the year.

    This is a dramatic increase from the seven cases reported in all of 2011.

    According to the report, Health Ministry officials believe the source may be vegetables sold in open-air markets in the south of the city.

     

    Australia – Third Death Linked to Listeria monocytogenes in Cheese

    Courier Mail Au

    A LISTERIA outbreak linked to a Victorian cheese factory has claimed a third life. A 68-year-old NSW man died from the infection last month, a Victorian health department spokesman confirmed on Sunday.

    A Tasmanian man, 44, and a Victorian man, 88, have also died of the illness.

    A total of 26 cases, including the three fatal cases and one miscarriage, have now been linked to the Jindi cheese factory in Gippsland.

    Some soft cheeses produced by Jindi were pulled from supermarket shelves last year but the Victorian health department spokesman said the bacteria had a long incubation period.